MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 24, 2003) - The Penn State baseball team scored twice in the ninth inning and used four pitchers to eliminate No. 3 Michigan 3-2 and remain alive in the Big Ten Tournament Saturday at Siebert Field.

The Nittany Lions, who have played the past three games in the tournament, have won two straight since losing a heartbreaking 4-3 contest versus No. 1 Minnesota Friday. They will play at 8:05 p.m. tonight against the loser of the Golden Gophers versus No. 2 Ohio State game, which is currently in progress. Pat Boland will provide live play-by-play on ESPN Radio WMAJ 1450 AM and a link to listen will be available at www.GoPSUsports.com.

Penn State, which is 29-27 overall, took advantage of two very costly errors by the Wolverines to score both runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Freshman Lance Thompson (Houtzdale, Pa.) led off with a hard single that went off the foot of starting pitcher Bobby Garza. Junior Brett Showalter (Waynesboro, Pa.) came in to pinch run for Thompson and that's when the wheels fell off for the Wolverines, who finished the season at 30-27. Junior Matt Harter (Centre Hall, Pa.) was hit by a pitch by Garza, who was relieved after the pitch. Senior Mike DeRenzo (Murrysville, Pa.) laid down a bunt towards the first base bag, but first baseman Mike Sokol's throw to third base was in the dirt, allowing all three runners to reach safely. Reliever Tim Leveque's next pitch was hit hard by senior Willie Melendez (Cayey, P.R.) at third baseman Brock Koman, but he could not field the ball cleanly and Showalter scored to give Penn State a 2-1 lead. Senior Zack Smithlin (Fair Lawn, N.J.) came to the plate with the bases loaded and scored Harter with a sacrifice fly to left field for a two-run cushion.

However, the Wolverines battled and had the winning run at first base in their half of the ninth against Nittany Lion reliever Josh Palm (Conneaut Lake, Pa.). Matt Butler led off with a single and Palm got Gino Lollio and Nick Rudden to strike out. But Brock Koman singled and Jake Fox pulled Michigan within one run with an RBI single. Palm struck out Sokol to end the game and improve to 4-6 on the season.

Junior Jared Hopewell (Watsontown, Pa.) started the game and gave up just one unearned run on four hits in 5.2 innings of work. Senior Kevin Damiano (Mt. Airy, Md.), sophomore Arin Gelletly (Clarksville, Md.) and Palm pitched the rest of the way as the Nittany Lion hurlers held Michigan to two runs on seven hits. The Wolverines averaged almost seven runs a game heading into the tournament.

The Nittany Lions struck first despite Michigan stranding four runners in the first two innings. Smithlin led off the third inning with a double to left-center field and moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Derrick Barr (So. Williamsport, Pa.). Senior Wes Reohr (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), who was 2-for-4, plated Smithlin with a sacrifice fly to leftfield for his 43rd RBI of the season.

The Wolverines were able to score after a Penn State miscue to tie the game in the fourth inning. Jordan Cantalamessa led off the inning by getting to second base on a throwing error by shortstop Melendez. He moved to third on a flyball to right field and then scored on an RBI groundout by A.J. Scheidt.

Penn State matched its best win total ever in Big Ten Tournament play with a 3-1 record thus far. The Nittany Lions were 3-2 in the 2000 tournament. They are also guaranteed of their first winning season since 2000 when they won the Upper Montclair (N.J.) Regional.

Quotes from the post-game press conference:

Head coach Joe Hindelang:
Opening statement -
"I'm just real proud of our players. It had to be a wonderful college baseball game to watch. Sometimes I wish I were watching rather than coaching. I thought (Michigan starter Bobby) Garza did an outstanding job all day. You never know. All of a sudden, we get a couple bunts down and we're able to manufacture a few runs in the ninth inning. For the most part, it was a well played college baseball game. I'm really proud of our team. This is our third game in a row here. It's not like any other team is playing. My hat goes off to my team."

Usually when you use four pitchers you don't hold a team to two runs, but today you did that. Talk about the way (pitching coach) Randy (Ford) used the staff:
"I commend him. It's not easy and there's no scientific formula for doing it. It worked to perfection today with the four kids piecing it together and coming out with the 'W'."

It was kind of a role reversal from (Friday against Minnesota), but this time you guys came out in the end:
"All the games have been close, so they are nail biters. Even the Indiana game was 4-4 in the late innings and then we were able to muster some runs. It's been 36 innings of close baseball. So much rides on each pitch, each at-bat and each ball hit. You'd like a few grand slams to relax and think of who you're going to substitute, but it doesn't work that way in the Big Ten Tournament."

Josh Palm has not been used in relief this year. You don't have any reservation on using a guy who's been a starter?
"No. Because we are a little short on experience in pitching. If you don't use him, then you don't get into this evenings game. So you don't hold back and now there's three (teams left). Now we'll give our best effort. The neat thing in tournament play is that the unsung heros sometimes rise to the occasion. Right now, I'm just happy that we're still playing and still alive in the evening game."

Zack Smithlin:

How does it feel Zack?
"It feels good. Like coach said, every game has been close and you really don't know how it's going to turn out. Unlike (Friday's) Minnesota game, it's good to be on top of one of these at the end of the year."

Talk about what was going through your mind after you scored in the fourth inning and the team couldn't really manufacture anything against starter Bobby Garza: "He did a good job of keeping us off balance even in that at-bat in which I doubled (in the fourth inning). It was a 2-2 curveball. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be a curveball. I was looking fastball in that situation. He did a good job keeping us off balance. It wasn't until the end that we kind of got to him and once we got him out of the game we got to the bullpen a little bit. We were able to push two across (the plate), which obviously held up."

You guys got a couple of lucky bounces and some fielding errors by Michigan in that last inning. Can you describe what was going on? "In that type of ballgame, you're going to take what you can get. I think the second run (of the game) was off Koman at third. Everyone was safe on the play and then I came up and was able to lift the ball into the outfield. Coach (Jon) Ramsey pulled me aside before the at-bat. I'm predominantly a groundball hitter and he said, 'If there's ever a time not to hit a ground ball here with the bases loaded, this is it.' I went up there trying my best to do what I did and I was successfull in getting it done. That held up as the winning run."